Highclare School l The Highclarian l 2014-15
English Theatre Visits In order to support our curriculum this year the English department has arranged several theatre trips. U3 went to see the ‘BFG’ at the Birmingham Rep in December. L5 and the U5 went to see ‘Of Mice and Men’ at the Birmingham Rep to support their GCSE English Literature examination.
Creative Writing Competitions The annual Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 competitions were judged in February by Mrs Riley and certificates awarded in assembly to successful students. At Key Stage 3 the pupils were set the task of writing a story based on the phrase: ‘On the doorstep was a brown paper package wrapped up in string.’ The standard was high and the students proved themselves to be very imaginative writers. Key Stage 3 Winners Overall winner: Nicholas Dowling Second: Jenny Hopkinson Third: Abbie Phelps Highly Commended: Samara Burt Gabrielle Clarke Rehman Beckford-Gardner Harry Mills Safa Arif Lily Arthurs At Key Stage 4 the students were asked to write a creative response to one of the conflict poems set for the GCSE Literature course. Their writing was judged for the competition and was also part of their creative writing controlled assessment coursework. Key Stage 4 Winners Evanne Hughes Overall winner: Runners Up: Jamie Richards James Southwick Highly Commended: Kiara Wheeler Ellis Toyne Catherine Watt Francesc Aliberch Padrisa Sarah White Georgia Quirke Emily Semmens Nicholas and Evanne will both receive the PTA Creative Writing Shields at Speech Night, November 2015. Evanne Hughes has recently entered a writing competition to create a Grimm’s fairy tale in 50 words and is going to get her mini story published in an anthology.
Thank You Letter Competition with Birmingham University The English Department ran a thank you letter competition in conjunction with Birmingham University to see who young people were most thankful towards in our society. There were some wonderful letters and it was incredibly difficult to judge as many were extremely heart-rending and moving. We were given £100 to spend on Amazon vouchers for the winners and presented the prizes in assembly. We entered 5 to the university’s national competition and 3 students, Joshua, Jenny and Harry, and their parents were invited to an award ceremony at the university where we heard Greg Rutherford deliver a very powerful and motivational speech.
Winners Joshua Pillinger Jenny Hopkinson Harry Mills Highly Commended Daniel Hurst Evanne Hughes Shiven Pattni Gabrielle Clarke Jack Walker Francesc Aliberch Padrisa Issy Davison
Debating Society Mrs Jackson has established a now popular debating society in the school which takes place every Tuesday lunchtime and in Enrichment. There is a healthy competition where students decide the topics to be debated and compete in inter-house, form and gender groups. Students from the debating Club have visited the Houses of Parliament and have participated in a young political challenge day. In addition, Dr Luker and Jack Dromey MP have judged various debates. We are now seeking to create a trophy and colours for the society.
World Book Day As part of the English department’s contribution to world book day, students were asked to bring in books they did not want anymore and we had a very successful book sale in the school library and profits went towards our whole school charity of SAAFA. We also held a quiz on the day which was run by our school librarians.
Book Clubs for U3 and L5 Mrs Daniels and the school librarians organise regular book clubs for students in U3 to L5. All U3 and L4 students were bought a book as part of the Book Buzz scheme this year to encourage and inspire the love of reading.
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